The Current Calamity
by X-MENobsession
Summary: Set after Season 5. After leaving Amy and Rory on their honeymoon the Eleventh Doctor arrives on New Earth only to discover it needs saving yet again. This time from a new enemy and with a new companion. OC The first of what will be a series.
1. Intro

**AN: **This is my first Doctor Who fic. Within the past year I have become obsessed with the show, watched every episode of the new series, and bought my own sonic screwdriver. Naturally, a fanfiction was the next step. It takes place post Season 5 and stars the Eleventh Doctor and an original character. No worries, though. I tried to make my OC with less self-indulgence than I feel most people do.

I hope you enjoy and send plenty of feedback!

**Intro**

"Mr. Gatewood?" a young man timidly asked as he lightly knocked on the open door of his superior's office. Albert Gatewood sat behind his desk, staring at his computer in thought. Gatewood was the epitome of a New Earth businessman. His office overlooked a thriving city from the 500th floor and his computer's "screen" was projected into the space in front of him and easily rearranged with a light touch of the finger. He acknowledged his visitor with a rough grunt.

"Mr. Berkley would like to see the financial report for this quarter." The young man awkwardly continued, shuffling his feet. He had only been working there for a few weeks, but had been warned from day one to avoid the irritable Mr. Gatewood. However, it seemed that his boss, Robert Berkley, had been given the same warning as every time Berkley needed to make any sort of contact with Gatewood the task would fall to the lowly intern.

Gatewood looked up at the young man under gray bushy brows and asked in a coarse voice, "Now?"

"Y…Yes, I believe so."

Gatewood leaned back in his chair, folded his hands neatly on his lap, and glared at the intern. "You tell your boss I'll send him the reports when I have them. I'm a very busy man, you know."

The young man couldn't help but glance at Mr. Gatewood's computer, which displayed an unfinished game of solitaire. "Yes, I know, Sir, but…"

"Robert Berkley," Gatewood continued, clearly despising the taste such words left on his tongue. "I don't care what recognition he's gotten in the scientific community- he has a long way to go to before he's taken seriously as a politician, especially by me."

Suddenly the lights began to buzz and glow brighter and brighter, filling the room with unrelenting, artificial luminosity. However, they quickly dimmed back to normal.

"Hmph," Gatewood snorted. "Power Surges- another thing we can thank the great Robert Berkley for- him and his new bio-electro-whats-it-called."

"Bio-electricity," the young man corrected. "It's supposed to be the savior of New Earth. It's a clean, renewable form of energy."

"It's cheap," Gatewood argued as he struggled to recover his lost game. "And unreliable."

"I thought cheap was a good thing."

Gatewood glanced at the intern and released an almost unrecognizable smirk. "Come now, boy." He stood and, placing an arm over the young man's lean body, escorted him out of the room pronouncing, "I'm in a generous mood. What say we go pay a visit to your boss?" The intern gulped and Gatewood slammed the door shut behind them.

Inside the empty office, Gatewood's missing game of Solitaire popped onto the computer screen. The game, still unfinished, then began to move. First a red eight slowly travelled across the screen onto a black nine then the cards began moving faster and faster into their correct slots until the game was complete. The four kings sat in their lofty pedestals on the top right corner of the board and smiled.

_(Theme Music)_


	2. Chapter 1

**AN: **I felt that just uploading the intro wouldn't be enough so I'm also putting up chapter 1.

Once again, enjoy and review!

**Chapter 1**

"We're having such a great time, Doctor," Amy's voice was heard through the TARDIS sound system. The Doctor smiled at her through his small television screen and she smiled back. "Thank you so much for sending us here."

"Well," The Doctor replied, "Space Florida is the most romantic place in the universe."

"But how are you?" Amy's excited blush wore off and a pout crossed her face. "I feel bad leaving you all alone. You could have stayed, you know."

"Oh, I've heard about the rituals you humans perform on your honeymoons and I want no part of it! I'm much better off hurtling through space in a big blue box. You shouldn't be worrying about me anyway- focus on your husband. Speaking of which, where is the new Mr. Pond?"

"He's at the pool trying to tan." The Doctor and Amy shared an understood look about Rory's ridiculousness.

"Well tell him to be careful," The Doctor warned, returning to his serious self. "Space Florida is 30% closer to its sun than Earth, so remember to put on plenty of sunscreen- no less than SPF 5000."

"Don't worry about us, Doctor. We've spent too much time with you to be stamped out by something as trivial as a giant ball of gas."

"Don't you worry about me either, than."

The two said their good-byes and shortly the Doctor was left in the silence of an empty TARDIS. He didn't like being alone and it surprised him that after all this time he still hadn't gotten used to it. Perhaps he never would. He was glad Amy and Rory were having a good time on their honeymoon, and had considered simply jumping a week forward to when they'd had enough of each other and could rejoin him, but where was the fun in that? He looked around the empty room. Where _was_ the fun…? He swiftly pressed a few buttons on his console and pulled a few levers and a map of the cosmos appeared on one of the many screens in front of him. He studied it for only a moment before his eyes fell on a particular planet and his face lit up. "Haven't been there in a while," he thought to himself as he began to set his course. As he pulled the final lever and the room thrust forward he smiled broadly and yelled into the echoing halls of the TARDIS, "Geronimo!"

The familiar sound of the TARDIS landing could barely be heard over the busy streets. The Doctor stepped out, donned in a scarf and hat that one of his former incarnations had left in the coat room. It was a brisk fall evening in New New York and the Doctor took in some air and slowly exhaled. The people on the street continued on their way without noticing the incongruous man. He began to walk with the flow of the crowd, peering into store windows as he passed, and eventually came to a large statue with a plaque on it that read, "In Memoriam of Those who Lived and Perished by the Motorway. Lest we never forget them." The statue was black and depicted a tall building surrounded by a circle of cars that continuously moved around and around and around without end. Past the statue was city hall. It was designed after old earth architecture and, thus, stood out amongst its surroundings, much like the Doctor.

The sun was setting and the street lights had turned on. Suddenly, a loud buzzing could be heard and the every light in the city seemed to brighten one thousand-fold. However, the blinding beams soon returned to normal and the Doctor looked around. Some seemed worried, some annoyed, and others simply continued on their way as if this was simply a sad fact of life in New New York City.

"Bloody hell!" and older man who sat on a bench near the Motorway Memorial exclaimed in a cockney accent. "They keep saying they're going to fix these power surges," he spoke brazenly to the Doctor. "But me, I know better than to believe what they say."

"Power surges?" The Doctor asked, mostly to himself, trying to place such a problem in the timeline of New Earth he was familiar with. When he found no knowledge of it in his immense mind he turned outward for help. "How long have these been happening?"

"What, haven't you heard?"

"I'm from out of town," The Doctor expertly lied.

"Even people from out of town have heard. It's all over the news- revolutionary, they say."

"I'm from really far out of town. It's so far that it's practically halfway back here." The Doctor was slightly exasperated and worried that he would actually have to pull out the psychic paper for this, but thankfully the man was as chatty as he was untrusting.

"Ever since the city started running on this new energy-thing there's been nothing but problems. The surges, the technical difficulties… My friend Bill says he once unplugged his blender and it just kept blending! Course no one in there," he pointed toward City Hall with his thumb, "would believe him. They're just trying to cover their own bums. The only honest one in there is Berkley and he's the chap who started all this trouble!"

"Started it?"

"Yeah, he invented this new energy. It's supposed to be all good for the environment and clean and whatnot, but I haven't seen it do one lick of good!"

"Well," the Doctor said tossing his scarf across his left shoulder. "Perhaps I should have a word with him."

"Good luck!" the man yelled toward the Doctor as he walked into City Hall, and then added under his breath, "You'll need it in there."

The Doctor knew something was wrong- a completely clean energy source wouldn't be used on New Earth for another century or so. Clearly something had gone amuck and it was up to him to save the day, though he wondered how many times he would have to save the same city. "At least it's not London," he thought to himself and pushed open the heavy doors.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Though the outside of City Hall was vintage brick the inside was sleek and modern. A thin, pointed secretary sat behind a curved desk and released a strenuous smile when the Doctor approached her.

"Hello," The Doctor greeted happily. "I'm from the Department of Energy Resources of New North America." He proudly presented blank paper that seemed to impress the woman immensely. "I hear you've been having some problems. I'm here to speak with a Mr. Berkley."

"I'm afraid Mr. Berkley is unavailable, but if you'd like to make an appointment I'd be happy to assist…"

The Doctor could tell she'd be anything but. He leaned close to her and whispered, "You and I both know there's something wrong with this city. The surges, rogue electronics…" The woman raised her eyebrows at this and it seemed that the elderly man's friend had not been the only one to experience 'technical difficulties.' The Doctor presented his psychic paper once more and the secretary eyed it enviously. "Now, I need to speak with Mr. Berkley."

The Doctor whistled a familiar tune as he walked down the 52nd floor hallway toward the office of Robert Berkley. He smiled politely at the odd stares he drew from men and women in business attire. He carried his hat in his hand and his scarf dangled dramatically. When he reached his destination he could hear voices inside and decided it would be better to eavesdrop than interrupt.

"We're in the process of solving the problems," Mr. Berkley spoke from behind his desk and a pile of paperwork. In front of him stood the grumpy Arthur Gatewood and to the left of the desk was the unlucky intern. Sitting in a chair against the wall was a young woman with mousy brown hair, mindlessly flipping through a magazine as the men argued.

"Every day this disaster continues the public opinion weakens," Gatewood retorted. "We simply can't take the hits anymore. Your 'energy revolution' is hurting the city, the citizens, and, most importantly, the polls!"

"I still believe in this program," Berkely argued with a sense of desperation and passion. "Yes, there are a few kinks we need to work out, but…"

"I don't care about what you believe," Gatewood interrupted. "I need to see results. Where are the status reports on these 'attempts' at fixing all of this?"

Berkley sighed and began to lead his tormentor out of the room when he seemed to notice the girl for the first time. "Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry, but it seems I'll need to work through lunch… again. You understand, right?"

"Of course," the girl replied closing her magazine. She seemed disappointed but not surprised.

As Berkley and Gatewood exited the room the Doctor began wiping the office window with the end of his scarf, acting as an unsuspicious custodian. Either the men were too enthralled in their own problems or his masquerade was perfect because they didn't seem to notice him in the least as they turned the nearest corner. The Doctor stopped wiping and began to follow them when he bumped into the mousy girl coming out of the office.

"Well, hello there!" he spoke excitedly, searching behind her for any remnant of the men, but there was none.

"Sorry!" she said sincerely as she picked up the hat the Doctor had dropped, brushed it off, and handed it to him. "I should have been paying more attention to where I was going."

"Oh, that's alright," he replied. "I never know where I'm going. Say, do you know Robert Berkley?"

Her once honest face turned suspicious impressively fast. "I may. Who are you?"

"I'm from the Department of Energy Resources of New North America."

"Ah, yes," she said, her gaze remaining fixed on him. "DERNNA."

The Doctor was caught slightly off guard by this as he was pretty sure he had made DERNNA up, but he recovered quickly. "How do you know Mr. Berkley?"

"How do you know him?"

"Well, I know of him. Everyone does. He's revolutionary, you know."

The sound of a positive word softened her stare faintly. "I'm his daughter, Mae Berkley."

"Well, Mae, your father is a great man. The leaps and bounds he's made in the field of energy technology will be admired for centuries to come!"

At this Mae smiled. "It's good to hear he still has a fan. The press has been unrelenting recently."

"Pish-posh," the Doctor said, waving away the nay-sayers with his hand. "You think Edison's first light bulbs were perfect? Or Bell's first telephone? Or Harbringer's first microbial atom diffuser?"

"What was that last one?"

"What, too soon?" The Doctor asked, trying to remember what time period he was in. "Either way, everything needs tweaking. That's why I'm here. I believe I could help your father make his dreams of sustainable, reliable energy come true."

Mae remained hesitant for a moment, then seemed to give in and smiled at the Doctor. She was about to say something when a loud scream echoed through the halls. The Doctor raced toward it, Mae close on his tail, and they eventually reached a room labeled, "Research." In it stood Robert Berkley next to a large computer; in front of him Arthur Gatewood lay dead on the floor.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Nobody touch him!" The Doctor yelled. A crowd had gathered around the body.

"I swear," Robert Berkley appealed. "I didn't do anything. One minute we were looking at the reports and the next…"

"Of course you didn't do anything," The Doctor replied as he bent down to examine Gatewood. "He died of an electric shock- fried his central nervous system." He stood and addressed the crowd. "It's okay. It must have just been some faulty wiring. No foul play here. You can all go back to work."

They left feeling somewhat annoyed that the day's excitement had ended so soon, but none mournful of the late Arthur Gatewood. Robert and Mae Berkley remained.

"Who are you?" Robert Berkley questioned.

"I'm the Doctor."

"A doctor?" Mae exclaimed. "I thought you said you were from DERNNA."

"DERNNA?" Robert seemed confused at first but expertly feigned knowledge. "Ah, yes, DERNNA. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help, and it seems you need more of it than I thought. I need you to tell me all you can about this new energy of yours."

Berkley seemed as suspicious as his daughter. "These problems have escalated," the Doctor argued. "It's more than just a nuisance now, there are people dying!"

"Of course," Berkley resigned. "Follow me."

The two walked out of the tainted room, and Mae shot a nervous glance at Gatewood before following.

"There was a blackout a little over 2 years ago," Berkley explained to the Doctor as they sat in his office, the blinds closed for privacy. "Caused by a nasty thunderstorm. I was in my lab at the time (I didn't always work here at City Hall- I used to be a scientist). I was alone and the room was pitch-black. Then a light at the other end of the lab turned on. It glowed faintly at first, but gained momentum quickly. Then the light next to it lit up, and soon the entire lab was up and running once more. Needless to say I was flabbergasted! The storm still raged outside and none of my neighbors had any power, but I did! After careful research I found the source of the phenomenon."

He reached into a drawer and handed the Doctor a stack of paper filled with numbers, graphs, and data. The Doctor squinted and raised an eyebrow as he deciphered the meaning behind them. "But this is unheard of! It's energy, pure energy, but it's… alive."

"Yes!" Berkley exclaimed. "You're a clever man, Doctor. It took months for my team to discover that, but indeed we were in the presence of an unknown species with no solid form."

"But I've never heard of them…" The Doctor searched fervently through the papers, turning them on their sides and upside-down in disbelief at what he saw.

"No one had. They don't seem to eat or sleep- they just are. They travel through conductors, powering anything they come into contact with."

"Just how 'alive' are they, then?"

Berkley furrowed his brow at this. "As far as we can tell, they're not sentient. They're living like the applegrass on my front lawn is living. So, we felt it was perfectly ethical to use them to our advantage. They were the perfect solution."

"Solution to what?" The Doctor asked looking up from the data.

"Well," Berkley replied, leaning back on his seat. "We all know New New York has had its share of problems. First there was that awful catkind hospital, then the motorway… In fact, I was born on the motorway. That was fifty years ago and the city has recovered tremendously, but there are still problems to solve if we are to protect ourselves from the downfall of Old Earth. Energy has always been a nagging issue without a proper solution. But I found one."

"So you send your findings to the government, they fund a city-wide transfer to this…"

"Bio-electricity is what I've been calling it."

"Right, bio-electricity… and they give you a nice title and a cushy job in politics to promote it." Berkley glanced downward at this. In his eyes the Doctor could see shame and a longing for his old laboratory. Still, he pressed onward. "How long have the power surges been happening?"

"Since the transfer began. It even happened when I was only powering my lab."

"And what have you done to fix it?"

"We've tried plenty of things and nothing seems to work. But, I think I've finally developed something that will stop it once and for all." Berkley's eyes shined at his last hope. "It's a device that would be placed in the city's main control panel. Basically, it limits the amount of energy that is allowed to flow at once."

The Doctor considered this for a minute, then placed the papers on Berkley's desk. "Carry on," he said simply, though he felt something wasn't quite right. Berkley gave a self-satisfied grin, proud that a man as seemingly intelligent as the Doctor supported his work. His smile faded, though, when the young intern entered.

"You're needed, sir," he said apologetically.

Berkley sighed. "Damage control, no doubt. It seems our Mr. Gatewood will be causing me just as much grief in death as he did in life. If you would excuse me, Doctor." He shook the Doctor's hand then seemed to notice Mae for the first time. "Oh! Sweetie, I'm…"

"I understand," she said. Berkley nodded at her and followed the intern out of the room.

Mae began to gather her things and stood to face the Doctor's eager disposition. "How about some dinner?" he asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Dinner. The final meal of the day… well, on some planets. Did you know that on Puftus 17 they eat eleven meals a day? Most of them are small, but the sixth, know as ogle-minkonios, is traditionally a large feast complete with roasted meats and animal sacrifices. It's really quite a sight." Mae stared at him. "Sorry… Dinner. Do you want to get some? I know you missed lunch, and I haven't eaten since the year 3045."

"I'm sorry, but I don't even know you." She attempted to walk around him, but he sidled and stood in her way.

"Well, how do you ever expect to?"

"No, thank you."

She walked around the Doctor again and he let her go, calling out, "Would you really rather return to an empty house than have dinner with the most interesting man you'll ever meet?"

Mae stopped, and the Doctor smiled as he saw that his guess was right, as usual.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

There was a room where the lab techs and housekeeping ate their lunch with small white tables scattered about. On one of them was a large spread of food the Doctor and Mae had ordered from the quaint Jupitarian restaurant down the street. The couple sat opposite each other, deeply immersed in conversation.

"I was adopted when I was a baby," Mae said as she poked something blue on her plate with a fork. "My mother couldn't have children but she'd always wanted them. My father just wanted to see her happy; after all, a baby wouldn't have gotten in his way at all. He spent most of my childhood in his lab…" her voice trailed off for a moment, then returned. "My mother died a couple years ago, and it's been just the two of us since."

"Mostly you, though, right?" the Doctor asked as he slurped a slimy green noodle into his mouth.

"He's a busy man," Mae replied, as if she had said it so many times she had actually grown bored of the words.

"Still, it must be hard," The Doctor said as he rolled more noodles around his fork. "But I suppose it's worth it to have such a successful father." Mae looked distant. "Right?"

"I remember," she said quietly, staring into space as if watching her memories. "When I was a child he would leave early in the morning and wouldn't come back until it had been dark for hours. I got into the habit of waking early with him, just so I could see him once that day. I was always sad when he left. What made it hurt even more was that he was so happy to go. But now… He works just as much, but when I see him he looks so tired. There's no passion in him anymore; he's a drone. I've already accepted that we'll never have the relationship I always wanted, but if I could see that twinkle in his eye once more, it would be worth it."

The Doctor stared at her, chewing slowly with green sauce at the corners of his mouth. He searched for words, but none came.

"What about you, though?" Mae asked, snapping back into reality and pouring more blue mush onto her plate. "You promised me a dinner with the most interesting man I would ever meet. You don't seem too interesting so far."

The Doctor nodded and wiped his face with a napkin. "Okay. Well, I'm sure you'll find it fairly interesting to know that I'm an _alien_."

"That's actually not that interesting. If you forgot, humans aren't originally from this planet so I'm an alien too. You'll have to do better than that."

"I ward off evil with a screwdriver."

"I barely know what a screwdriver is."

"I travel space and time in a police call box that's bigger on the inside." The Doctor smiled as Mae seemed intrigued by this.

"You can go anywhere?" she asked, one eyebrow slightly higher than the other.

"Anywhere."

Mae's next words were cut off by a high-pitched scream echoing down the halls. The Doctor and Mae raced toward the sound, abandoning their dinner, and arrived at City Hall's lobby. The secretary the Doctor had spoken to earlier was lying on the floor behind her desk, her eyes flung open in shock, her hair standing up straight from static, and her heart stopped dead. Once again a crowd had gathered and the Doctor warned of the dangers of touching someone who had died of electric shock.

"It looks like she was just using her computer," Mae commented as she noticed an unfinished game of solitaire on the screen. "I don't understand. What's happening to these people?"

"It's your energy supply; it's too powerful! It's like filling a car that takes regular gasoline with rocket fuel- it just leads to trouble!"

"Gasoline?" Mae asked, confused.

"Right, fossil fuels have been depleted for centuries by now. In fact, they should be usable again. But that's not the point!" The Doctor began pacing around the body now and thinking out loud. "More isn't always better, and right now you've got more energy than you can handle."

Robert Berkley rushed into the room after hearing the commotion and looked around in shock. "You!" the Doctor said, pointing at him. "You still have everything ready for that energy limiting thingy?"

"Y…Yes," Berkely responded, staring at the dead body.

"Good! Don't use it."

"Why?" Berkley asked, ripping his eyes away from the morbidly interesting scene and staring wide-eyed and almost heartbrokenly at the Doctor.

"There's something not right here. This isn't as simple as 'there's too much energy so let's slow down the flow.' These deaths aren't random, are they?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Did anyone outside of City Hall ever die like this?"

"…"

"Dad?" Mae asked, afraid of her father's long silence.

Robert Berkley shuffled his feet and stared at the floor. "One lab tech died while I was powering my laboratory with the energy. We covered it up so that we wouldn't have to stall the project."

Mae's face dropped in disappointment. "Oh, Dad…"

Berkley looked disappointed in himself, but the Doctor didn't have time for such self-depravity. He grabbed the former scientist by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. "Do you trust me?"

"I hardly know you," Berkley replied.

"Do you trust my scientific opinion? Keep in mind that I discovered in two seconds what it took your team months to find."

"I don't know, Doctor…"

The Doctor sighed.

"Pi equals 3.…"

"Okay, okay!" Berkley yelled. "I trust you; I trust you!"

"Good. Then **don't use the thingy**. Got that?"

"Right, no thingy," Berkely replied, gazing around the embarrassedly.

The Doctor let go of Berkley and straightened his bow tie. "Alright, then. I'm going to the city's central control panel, and we're going to get to the bottom of this before anyone else dies."

As he walked away Mae ran up beside him. He noticed her and said nothing, allowing her to tag along. Berkley stood amidst the tragedy and watched them leave, calling to the Doctor, "It's called an Energy Reduction Apparatus!"


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The central control panel for New New York City was simply a room of computers. They lined the walls, performing their specific tasks, their authority stretching over the entire city. In the center of the room was a console that essentially controlled the other consoles, and naturally it caught the Doctor's immediate attention.

"Why wouldn't you let my father fix this?" Mae asked, about to lean on one of the computers.

"Stop!" the Doctor yelled and Mae froze. "Don't touch anything electrical. Just… stand over there." He pointed to an empty space behind him and Mae obliged, though she pouted like a child for being reprimanded. "You can't fix something without fully understanding the problem," he replied to her question as he scanned the center console with his sonic screwdriver. "I should have stopped this earlier, but I'm getting old- I actually believed it could be as simple as it seemed."

He read the screwdriver's readings and began passing it from one hand to the other as he thought. "Living energy… as sentient as applegrass…" He turned around and looked at Mae, who stood in her designated spot with her arms crossed. "But it's more than that, isn't it?" Mae shrugged and the Doctor continued, "It _chose_ who to kill. The lab tech, Gatewood, the receptionist… They all had something…"

"The Bio-electricity project!" Mae exclaimed, elated to contribute. "On the receptionist's computer she had a game of solitaire, but on the bottom of the screen I saw that she had a document up titled, 'Bio-electricity Meeting.' I doubt she had any real information on it, though, most likely she was just sending out a memo or something."

"Interesting…" the Doctor thought out loud. "But if you were an alien living inside electronics you might believe she did. But why kill her? Why kill any of them? What did they gain from that?" He began pacing and juggling his screwdriver again.

"They got our attention," Mae said simply.

The Doctor turned to her and grinned. "Yes… yes, they did." He raced over the one of the computers and yelled at it, "Well, you've got it now! What is it that you want?" The room was silent and Mae was confused as to what the Doctor had actually expected to happen. "Of course," he said, "beings of pure energy probably don't have ears, but maybe they understand this." He began typing at the keyboard and his message appeared on the screen, 'Hello.'

Within a few seconds there appeared a reply. 'Hello.'

"Aha!" the Doctor exclaimed, clapping and throwing his hands in the air in jubilation before typing his next message. 'Who are you?'

'We are the Amasdy.'

'Where do you come from?'

'Our home is long gone.'

The Doctor grimaced. 'What happened?'

'Our companion species died. Our world aged and rusted and crumbled. We did not. We used our last bit of strength to find a new home.'

'Than why are you killing the people here?'

'They do not know we are here. We are only trying to communicate… It has not gone well.'

The Doctor chuckled.

"What are they?" Mae asked, reading the screen over his shoulder.

"Evidently, they're the Amasdy. They must be native to only one planet- a planet whose species almost entirely died out and no one in the universe noticed. It's a big place, I can't know them all."

'What were you trying to communicate?' he typed.

'PAIN.'

"Settle down! Settle down!" Robert Berkley yelled to the growing crowd in the City Hall lobby. The receptionist's body had been removed and angry citizens now stood in the place of her death. "Everything is fine! The recent deaths were accidents due to faulty wiring and unstable electronics, all of which are currently being fixed! There is no reason to panic!"

He was pulled away from the mob by the intern, who had continuously been the bearer of bad news that day. "The Council is meeting and they want to know when you're going to come through with the Energy Reduction Apparatus."

"It's all in place, but I can't start it now."

"Well, you need to do something soon. The people who aren't panicked are furious, and they're all looking for a martyr."

Berkley dabbed at the sweat on his forehead with a polka-dot handkerchief, and then addressed the crowd again. "People, please. I know you were expecting the power surges to be solved today, but it's going to take more time…"

"How many people have to die before you admit your 'bio-electricity' isn't saving the world?" a man yelled from the masses.

"I have said before that the recent deaths were mere _accidents_…"

"Accidents?" an outraged woman screamed. "Then why have these 'accidents' never happened before?" The crowd roared in agreement. "And why are you stalling with the one possible solution we have?"

"I was assured by an energy expert that it would be in everyone's best interest to wait…" Berkley defended as he pulled out the polka-dot handkerchief again.

"I thought _you_ were an expert!" a distant voice added.

"The Doctor is…"

"Who's the Doctor?"

"Well… he's from DERNNA."

The crowd erupted in noise and Robert Berkley gulped.

As the Doctor continued his communication with the Amasdy his face grew pale. "What is it?" Mae asked, noticing this and hesitantly resting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"They're in pain," he replied as he rubbed his lower face. "They came here searching for hope after their planet began to deteriorate from disuse, and all they found was pain."

"What do you mean? How are we hurting them?"

"They live in any and all conductors of electricity, but your technology is primitive compared to them. It physically hurts, and you've got them wired through the whole city. That's what the power surges were and the killings- they were calling for help."

"And all my father did was develop a way to shut them up," Mae said irritably.

"I wouldn't be so hard on him," the Doctor attempted. "He seems like a well-meaning fellow to me…"

Suddenly, the center console came alive with noise. The Doctor wheeled over to it on the chair he had been sitting on and read the data blazing across the screen. "Oh no," he said as he stood and looked up to find that the figures spoke true. A device sat atop the console, clearly newer than anything else in the room.

"What?" Mae asked, coming to stand near him.

"I take back what I said. He's a bad, bad man who doesn't know how to follow simple instructions!"

The Doctor ran out of the room and down to the lobby. The mob of citizens had been calmed down to an agitated murmur now that their demands had been met, but none seemed too pleased with the day's events. Berkley stood to the side, in deep conversation with a group of important-looking men. "What have you done?" the Doctor yelled, interrupting the most important-looking one.

"I… I'm sorry, but the people have a voice and a powerful on at that," Berkley defended.

"Who is this?" the man who had been speaking asked Berkley. "Is this that crazy Doctor that told you to stall the project?" He turned toward the Doctor. "Sir, I don't know where you got your degree, but these power surges aren't good for the people, and what's bad for the people is bad for the politicians." The other men laughed, even Berkley faked an uncomfortable chuckle, but the Doctor remained unmoved.

"They're alive," he said seriously, staring the man dead in the eye. "They're as alive and sentient as you or I, and they're more beautiful, more worthwhile because they risked everything to save themselves at the brink of extinction. But you never considered that, did you?" He spoke to Berkley now. "You never wanted them to be any more than applegrass because that would mean you'd have to wait for fame. But right now I'm going to give you the option to not go down in history as the man who mercilessly tortured an entire species for a cushy job and a pretty title."

The Doctor's gaze bore into Berkley. "What is he talking about?" one of the other men asked. Berkley didn't answer him. Instead, he took a remote out of his pocket and pressed a button on it. "There," he said. "The Energy Reduction Apparatus is down. You're right, Doctor. I never _tried_ to hurt them, but I never tried very hard not to."

The Doctor gave Berkley a quick pat on the back and raced back to the central control room, passing Mae along the way. Berkley saw his daughter watching him and knew that she had heard everything. He wanted to lower his eyes in shame, but she had already looked away in disgust.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The Doctor held his sonic screwdriver between his teeth as he connected various wires around the largest control console. The apparatus had been shut down, but he still had a bit of work to do before he could save the Amasdy. Mae slowly entered, sniffling slightly. "Can you hold this?" the Doctor asked, immediately putting her to work. Mae took the wire he handed her and tried to look less miserable. She failed, but the Doctor was busy working at his fastest pace to prevent the Amasdy any unneeded harm and they remained silent for a while.

"Finally!" the Doctor yelled in relief as he attached the last wire and stood excitedly in front of the console. "In a moment," he explained to Mae, "I'm going to press this button and all the energy flowing through the city will come right here and into…" He placed his screwdriver on the rewired Energy Reduction Apparatus. "…my sonic. Thankfully, it's advanced enough to contain the Amasdy without harming them, though it will be a little tight until I can get them to a compatible planet. Brilliant, isn't it?"

Mae gave a half-hearted smile.

The Doctor readied himself to press the button, then he paused. "Did I mention I can travel through time as well as space?"

"You can?" Mae perked up a little.

"Of course. Just wanted to make sure you were aware of that." He turned back to the console and pressed the button confidently.

Immediately, alarms began to ring and the room was bathed in an eerie red light. The clamor of citizens rose once again in the lobby, and Berkley knew his mistake had been fixed, feeling yet another pang of guilt.

The Doctor laughed as the Amasdy raced into the screwdriver from all parts of the city. Mae smiled as well to see the broken species another step closer to safety. Eventually all of the Amasdy had found refuge in the small device, which glowed blue from the spectacular amount of energy now within it. The Doctor grabbed it, only to realize the intense heat emanating from the screwdriver.

"Hot!" he yelled and threw it into the air. Mae caught the sonic device and hastily began tossing it from hand to hand to keep from burning herself. The Doctor then grabbed the burning screwdriver with his scarf and bundled it up. "There we go!" he said, holding the mass of scarf and alien-filled tool for Mae to see. "Well, I guess the only thing left to do is take them somewhere safe."

"Where?" Mae asked as she followed him down the corridors of City Hall.

"Oh, there are plenty of planets with advanced enough technology that would be happy to have some free, renewable energy."

They reached the lobby and finally realized that all of the lights in the city had gone out.

"Well, that's what happens when you take away a city's primary source of energy," the Doctor said in response to Mae's questioning face. "Don't worry, the back-up generators should be up and running shortly. After they're used up it's up to New New Yorkers to find another solution to their energy problems."

The mob of citizens in the lobby had grown and they were angrier than ever. One of the politicians was standing above the crowd, attempting to quell them. Berkley sat to the side, clearly having given up. The Doctor and Mae managed to slip out the front doors without being noticed and they walked down the dark streets until they reached the small alley where the TARDIS was parked. The Doctor handed Mae the bundled scarf while he reached in his pocket for the key.

"So, you're off then?" Mae asked as she played with the frayed ends of the Doctor's aged scarf.

The Doctor pushed open the TARDIS door. "I suppose I am."

"Thank you. Despite the lack of power thing, you definitely left us better than you found us." She smiled at him, with the honest face he had first encountered in front of her father's office.

"I try." He leaned against the TARDIS casually, like a man leaning against a car he feels proves his worth. Then he addressed the elephant before them, "You can't blame him. Trust me, I do this sort of thing almost every day and he's nothing compared to some of the people I've met."

"Well I haven't met all that many people. As far as I'm concerned he's the worst man I've ever known." She handed him the bundle and folded her arms against the chill and forgiveness.

The Doctor sighed. "Then I suppose you'll have to come with me."

"What?"

"Well, I can't very well leave you here. There's no power! And you're clearly too stubborn to go back to your father. It would be irresponsible for me not to take you with me."

"So you're taking me away in your spaceship?" Mae unfolded her arms.

The Doctor stepped aside to allow her entry. "It doubles as a time machine."

Mae entered the blue box and stood in awe at its size. "It's impossible!" she exclaimed as the Doctor calmly placed his hat on the hat rack near the door. "It's bigger on the inside! But… that's impossible!"

"Well, that's me," he stood in front of her, arms flung open wide in presentation, "the most interesting man you'll ever meet."

"That you are," Mae mumbled as she continued to gaze about the room, then she looked hesitantly at the door.

The Doctor, who was mindlessly playing with some knobs and buttons, noticed this. "I can bring you back five minutes after we left."

"No," Mae replied resolutely, still staring at the blue door. "Then only I would be different. I can't come back unless everything has changed."

"I can do that too." The Doctor pulled a large lever and the TARDIS shook with the excitement of a new adventure.

**AN: **There will be more adventures with the Doctor and Mae Berkley (I'm thinking at least 2). The next one will take some time, but keep your eyes open- it's get there eventually.

And thank you to everyone who reviewed!


End file.
